1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to biometric authentication using biometric data. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for performing biometric authentication without exposing biometric data to a third person.
2. Description of the Related Art
Biometric authentication is an authentication process that extracts biometric data of a person and treats the extracted information for use in authentication of the person. The biometric authentication process utilizes distinctive characteristics of a person, such as fingerprints, voice, iris and the like, as a password. Physical and behavioral features of a personal are measured by an automatic device and the measured features are utilized as a mechanism for personal identification. Typically, the biometric authentication process is classified into two applications. In the first application, the physical features of fingerprints, facial contours, iris, and vein are used. In the second application, behavioral features of voice pattern and signature are used.
The physical features including facial contours, voice waves, fingerprints, and eye's iris, are protected against malicious use or piratical duplicate and are not prone to change or loss, like a key or password. Thus, the physical features are applied to security fields. Especially, the physical features can be traced for a user and can implement a secure system in view of its management.
Among the biometric authentication methods, a palm scan authentication method was the first to be automated. Finger patterns of thousands of people are analyzed and treated as data based on the observation that each person has different lengths of the fingers. Alternatively, the lines in the palm of the hand are analyzed and treated as data since the lines in the palm are unique pattern for each person.
Fingerprints, which are generated on the dermis under the epidermis of the skin, do not change during the lifetime unless the dermis is damaged. Thus, the finger scan has been prevalently used for the personal identification. The principle of the finger scan is to extract features of finger images, such as ridges or ridge endings, and to compare the extracted features with the stored original data.
Vein recognition detects vein patterns on the back of the hand or the wrist to identify a person by scanning the vein using infrared rays and using the captured images. As it is infeasible to duplicate the vein patterns, the vein recognition guarantees a high-level of security. However, the hardware requires complex configuration and the utilization range is restricted due to the great expense relating to the entire system.
Iris scan takes advantage of unique iris patterns of the eye, and is the most advanced security system in view of data correctness, stability, ease of use, and data processing speed, when comparing with the finger scan or the retina scan. The iris acquires its unique pattern in one or two years after birth and the pattern is constant. The iris pattern is scanned 8˜25 cm off from the iris using an auto-focusing camera, which is a non-contact method. Thus, the iris scan does not cause awkwardness to the user and can identify a person within 2 seconds. In short, the iris scan is the more highly advanced biometric authentication.
Voice recognition is based on a property that the individual has a unique voice pitch patterns according to its accent and speech habit. The voice recognition analyzes features of the voice transferred through a telephone or a microphone and retrieves the most similar result. Unlike the other biometric authentication methods, the voice recognition can be used to identify a person from a distance using a telephone, and does not require special education relating to how to use the voice recognition. Also, the voice recognition features low-cost system. However, if a user has a hoarse voice from cold or the like, the voice recognition may not work well. Further, the voice recognition may not work well in situations when a third person imitates another's voice or where the environment in which the voice is recorded has a lot of noise.
Facial recognition can easily identify the individual using a camera without having to contact a device. A face database is configured and an input facial image is compared with face images stored in the database. However, facial expression varies depending on the individual's mood and is affected by ambient lighting.
As mentioned above, the biometric data can be used for the user authentication without the use of a password. FIG. 1 depicts a construction of an authentication section that performs the biometric authentication by use of the conventional biometric data. The authentication section includes a features extractor 100, a comparator 102, a database 104, and a controller 106. It should be understood that the authentication section can include other components in addition to the above-mentioned components.
The feature extractor 100 receives biometric data of a user. The feature extractor 100 receives the user's biometric data such as fingerprints, iris, and the like, to be authenticated. The feature extractor 100 extracts only the features required for the biometric authentication from the received biometric data. Specifically, the feature extractor 100 extracts only the required data from the received biometric data and uses the extracted data for the sake of the biometric authentication. Thus, the feature extractor 100 can reduce the volume of data to be delivered. The data extracted at the feature extractor 100 is not explained in detail for brevity, but is generally known. The extracted data is transferred to the comparator 102.
The database 104 stores data relating to users who are allowed access to a system or location, or are otherwise deemed authorized. The database 104 stores the data extracted at the feature extractor 100 among the biometric data of the users who are allowed to access or authorized. As discussed above, the database 104 stores the minimum data required for the authentication to reduce the volume of the stored data.
The comparator 102 compares the data fed from the feature extractor 100 with the data stored in the database 104, to thus carry out the biometric authentication. If the data from the feature extractor 100 is stored in the database 104, the user of the provided biometric data is allowed to access. The controller 106 controls the components of the authentication section. The controller 106 issues a control command to control the operations of the features extractor 100, the database 104, and the comparator 102.
In light of the background as above, the authentication section includes the database 104 that stores the conventional biometric data of the users who are allowed to use or authorized. Accordingly, in the event that the database 104 is attacked or accessed by a third party who is not authorized such access, the authentication system is subjected to serious risk. In addition, the third party may abuse the obtained biometric data.